India has been for some time leading the world in terms of daily fresh Covid-19 cases, but the number of recoveries is also rising and so is the number of tests.

As on Thursday, the country recorded 69,652 new cases, while 58,794 people recovered. The fatalities in the 24-hour period were 977, taking the total so far to 53,866. The number of active cases rose by 9,881 to 6,86,393.

With more patients recovering and being discharged from hospitals and home isolation (in case of mild and moderate cases), India's total Covid-19 recoveries have reached 20,96,664.

This has been made possible because of effective implementation of the policy of testing aggressively, tracking comprehensively & treating efficiently, the health ministry said in a bulletin. Focus on Standard of Care protocol including use of non-invasive oxygen, better skilled doctors in the ICUs and hospitals, and improved ambulance services have culminated in yielding the desired results.

India's Recovery Rate has reached 73.91%, reflecting that the number of patients recovering is on a steady rise over the past several months. India has posted more than 14 lakh (14,10,269) recoveries than the active cases (6,86,395 which are under active medical care). The record high recoveries have ensured that the actual caseload of the country viz. the active cases, has reduced and currently comprises only 24.19% of the total positive cases.

Early identification through testing, surveillance & contact tracing along with focus on timely and appropriate clinical treatment of Covid-19 patients have ensured that not only is the Case Fatality Rate is lower than the global average and progressively declining (the current figure is 1.89%), but also a small proportion of the active cases are on ventilator support.

The recent weeks have seen the number of daily tests registering new highs every day, and during the 24 hours to Thursday morning, the figure crossed 9 lakh to reach 9,18,470 tests. India is poised to see an exponential increase towards its resolve of testing 10 lakh samples daily, the health ministry said in an update. The cumulative tests so far are 3,26,61,252.

An expanded diagnostic lab network across the country and effective measures to facilitate easy testing have given a substantial boost to the present numbers. As a result of these focused actions, the Tests Per Million (TPM) have seen a sharp increase to 23668. The TPM continues to maintain the constant upward trend.

With constantly increasing testing numbers, there has been a commensurate fall in the positivity rate. Although higher number of tests will push the positivity rate initially, but as the experience from several states/UTs has amply depicted, it will eventually lower when combined with other measures such as prompt isolation, effective tracking and timely clinical management.

As the national average falls below 8%, there are 26 states/UTs that are reporting lower rates than the national average.

There has been a steady rise in the national network of diagnostic labs too. With 977 labs in the government sector and 517 private labs, the lab infrastructure has been enhanced to 1494 labs today.